Page 49 of Ten Day Affair

Thanks for the tour today. It was nice to be able to know more first-hand.

The rational part of my brain, the one that got me through medical school and keeps me sharp after twelve-hour shifts, is telling me to put the phone down.

It is a thank-you text. Nothing more. A professional follow-up to a professional favor.

But it does not feel that simple. Not after last night. Not after today.

He's sending this just as I get home. He probably knows I just walked through the door.

Who am I kidding? He isn't sitting in his house watching my comings and goings. It's just a coincidence.

Now I understand why sleeping with your neighbor is such a slippery slope. Not to mention, he's also on my hospital's board, about to cast a very important vote.

If this doesn't scream danger zone, I don't know what would.

The words in the text might be neutral, but the timing is anything but. Not after what almost happened after dinner last night. Not after the way today felt between us in what should have been a completely platonic meeting at the hospital.

I flash to the way his shoulder brushed mine when we stepped through the doorway at the same time as we left the wing. Then, the brief but deliberate way he lingered in front of my mother’s plaque, and the way he looked at me afterward, like the weight of that moment belonged to both of us.

Kip was with us, walking a few steps ahead. If he noticed the sexual hopscotch simmering beneath the surface, he did not say a word. Maybe he was just being polite.

The truth is, Cole and I both continue to blur the line every chance we're together. And one of us always pulls back at the last minute.

What the fuck kind of foreplay is that?

I can't help but think about the way his mouth felt onmine last night. The way his hands slid down my waist and pulled me back into his lap when I stood to leave.

I stare at the screen like somehow I'll be cured of this if I just try hard enough. But nothing. I drop the phone onto the counter like it’s radioactive.

I need someone to talk me down before I text him back something stupid likeAre you free tonight?orDo you want to ruin me again properly this time?

I grab my phone again, but this time, I scroll to Arden and hit call.

She answers on the second ring.

“Okay, what the hell, Samantha Evelyn? You’ve been ignoring me all day. You can't give me catnip and then go MIA.”

“God, you're so dramatic. I've been very busy. If you weren't aware, the day of a surgical resident isn't exactly lax.”

“You’re lying. I can hear it in the way you pronounce 'busy.' Start talking. Begin with how dinner was last night. I'll try not to jump to any conclusions since you didn't call me at midnight for a debrief.”

I sigh and slide down onto the kitchen stool, bracing my forehead against my palm.

“It was good.”

“That’s not a word. That’s a placeholder. Try again.”

“It was great. Okay? Like, disgustingly great. He grilled the best steak I think I've ever eaten and made pasta that tasted like butter, and we talked for hours. About work, family, wine, and music, of course. All of it. It was easy. Enjoyable. Almost perfect.”

Arden goes quiet for a beat.

“Almost?”

“And we kissed.”

Her inhale is sharp. “Finally.”

“No, not like that. I hesitated, and he sensed it.”